Sunday, February 24, 2013

What Does Huckleberry Finn Want?

It seriously has not taken me weeks to write these final inquiries; I've not been home for days in order to post them. Huckleberry Finn is a quick read, and most normal people would have had it completed in a couple of days. The process of thinking about it may take a little longer, but not three weeks long. Nonetheless, here is the second of my inquiries, and God willing, I will post my third tomorrow, once and for all.

Second Level of
Inquiry: Logic Stage Reading

1.What
does the central character want, and what is standing in his way?

2.What
strategy does he use to overcome this obstacle?

Overall, Huck wants to be free from the constraints
of his civilization. He wants to
live by his own rules. If he does not
want to wear clean clothes, go to school, or pray over his food, he shouldn’t
have to. Of course, Huck is a teenage
boy; he doesn’t always know what is best for him. Miss Watson is a temporary
obstacle because she wants to “sivilize” him.

Overall,some societal norms and expectations are
standing in his way. For example,
his father is granted custody of Huck on the grounds that children should not
be removed from their parents even though we know how abusive Huck’s father
proves to be. The law does not protect
Huck. His father forces him away and
keeps him locked in a cabin.

One other
example: Huck’s idea of Jim is based on what Huck’s culture says Jim is, but
Huck learns first hand that Jim has feelings, too, and deserves to be treated
fully human. Yet even Huck’s ignorance,
thanks to what civilization has taught him, can only consider this evidence for
Jim having “white blood in him” as if a black man is not capable of human
feelings.

Later, a second thing that Huck wants is to free
Jim. Again, the obstacle is a society
that says slaves are property.

The strategy that Jim uses to overcome
these obstacles is to rise to the occasion and resolve to go against societal
normsand to free Jim once and for all.
With the help of Tom Sawyer, Huck goes along with Tom’s unnecessary convoluted
plan to free Jim. Tom withheld the truth
that Jim was free after Miss Douglass died because he selfishly wanted to enjoy
the adventure of it all. He did not care
about Jim’s life as Huck did. Contrast
Tom’s immaturity with Jim’s patient and gentle revelation to Huck that his father has been dead
for quite a while.

Now, Huck
is free; but, when Aunt Sally desires to “sivilize” Huck, he declares enough of
civilization and vows to go out West.
And one has to believe he does because nothing is going to hold him back
now.